1. Field of the Invention:
This invention concerns access flooring and more particularly slabs for the construction of same.
2. Discussion of the Background:
Providing services such as power, telephone data transmission lines and so on at workstations in open plan office accommodation has presented many problems. The services must be taken either from the ceiling or the floor. If ports to them are sited at permanent positions, for example during construction of the building, rearrangement of the workstations in the accommodation is difficult, if not impossible, and one of the principal benefits of the open plan concept is lost.
Providing services from the ceiling tends to be unsightly, even when costly service columns are used, and for this reason provision of services from the floor is more generally favoured.
Many kinds of access floor are known wherein the floor is formed from a multiplicity of mutually abutting panels, selected ones of which may be lifted to gain access to an underfloor space through which cables can be run at will or through duct systems incorporated in the floor substrate. These systems are very costly requiring complex supporting means for the panels capable of adjustment for levelling purposes, panels of substance, and well carpetted to lower drumming noise from traffic over the hollow floor to acceptable levels. Generally these kinds of access floor cannot be installed in an old building, the resulting loss of height between floor and ceiling being unacceptable and requiring refitting of all internal doors. When specified for a new building an underfloor space of 45 cm or so is normal and the height and cubic capacity of a multi-story building are dramatically increased, as of course is its cost.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an access flooring system which is inexpensive, capable of installation in either new or old buildings, and which generally overcomes at least to some extent problems associated with previous systems.